Altogether, the jobs will pay up to $792 million per year. Including job postings that have been open since before sequestration, the government is in the market for 27,000 employees who will make up to $1.8 billion a year.

The jobs posted since sequestration include 10,195 positions at the Department of Agriculture, 2,800 at the Department of Veterans Affairs and 1,611 the Department of Health and Human Services.

They include jobs to provide services to military personnel on bases around the world, including 71 bartenders and 123 waiters.

One position in Hawaii pays up to $110,000 — plus a 12 percent cost-of-living adjustment — to oversee such recreation facilities.

Most of the service jobs are funded through fees paid to those facilities and don’t get taxpayer money, but that explanation doesn’t wash with some watchdogs and lawmakers.

Lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Coburn, who said “there are 23 openings for taxpayer-funded jobs with the title Recreation Aide, Recreation Specialist, or Recreation Assistant,” say all that money speaks to the unyielding size of the government, which they say is the root cause of the sequester.

At the Transportation Security Administration, which said sequestration would result in widespread flight delays, 436 positions, almost all for security officers, have been posted since March 4.

TSA also is hiring for quality assurance, logistics management, information technology and program analyst roles. Each of these jobs can pay more than $137,000 a year.

An email from one federal agency indicated that it was intentionally placing the brunt of the cuts on critical and high-profile positions instead of low-priority jobs to lend credence to the dire warnings it had proffered to Congress in a plea for more funding.

“We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘[the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be,” leaders said.

The Agriculture Department’s Forest Service is hiring numerous people at nearly 800 locations, but could not specify how many it would hire in all.

About the Author

Luke Rosiak is a projects reporter on The Washington Times’ investigative team. He formerly covered lobbying and campaign finance for two watchdog groups as well as transportation for The Washington Post. Luke can be reached at lrosiak@washingtontimes.com.